Ideas in Transit

Conveners: Denise Gimpel and Bent Nielsen, Associate Professors, Chinese Studies, Dept. of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies

Throughout history ideas have moved at different speeds and for enormously different reasons. The flow of ideas between East and West has been particularly intense since the 19th century. The flow within Asia has a far longer history. With each exchange, the original idea, concept or imaginaire changes those who espouse it and is changed by them. Thus traditional concepts are rarely ousted by the new. They are more likely to be enriched or modified and to accommodate the new or be accommodated by it. Reflections of these borrowings and reworkings can be found for instance in the modes of thought and belief within any society, in its concrete organizations and institutions (for instance political, legal, educational systems), in the various genres of scholarly and creative writing and in cultural artefacts.

We have invited scholars from all disciplines and from all regions to submit abstracts for papers  that deal with any aspect of the movement of knowledge (broadly defined) and its consequences over time. The aim of the panel is to work towards a greater understanding of the global effects of knowledge migration and to reflect on modes of study of such migrations to date.